A woman was charged with 55 counts of animal cruelty after police said she stuffed more than four dozen cats inside crates and locked them in a storage facility for three days without food and water. Kathy Arnold, 48, of Staunton, was arrested Sunday morning after the cats were discovered by the owner of the storage facility. She faces up to 55 years in jail and nearly $140,000 in fines.
Shayne Ayers, a Staunton police animal control officer, said the 55 cats were covered in feces and urine and likely spent about 72 hours stuffed inside the crates without food or water.
The animals were sent to the Augusta County SPCA. A hearing was to be held Wednesday to determine whether they will be adopted or disposed of by the SPCA.
Police said Arnold recently had been evicted from her home. Case UpdatesRaymond Robertson, Staunton's Commonwealth's attorney, said the couple appeared in court late Monday afternoon and entered guilty pleas to the charges. Each was sentenced to 30 days in jail with 26 suspended and fined $250.
"They each were ordered never again to own or possess a companion animal of any type," Robertson said.
Robertson said the couple gave up ownership of the cats, allowing the Augusta County SPCA the freedom to match new owners with the animals -- which now total 62 because of new litters following their rescue. In July, the SPCA said the storage bill for the cats had already exceeded $16,000. The Arnolds, whose last known address was a tent in Deerfield, are responsible for the final tally.
Officers who responded to the scene the weekend the cats were discovered reported that food left in the bottom of the cages was covered in excrement and that an "ammonia" stench permeated the storage room. All of the cats developed upper respiratory infections. The Augusta County SPCA euthanized eight kittens and two cats as a result.
Kathy Arnold was a no-show for three prior court appearances and had a fourth postponed due to mental illness. After she failed to appear at the July hearing in which her husband was convicted, McGratty issued a warrant for her arrest.
Receiving a tip that the couple, evicted from their Staunton rental property, were living in a tent in the George Washington National Forest, authorities staked out the forest and tracked Kathy Arnold to Harrisonburg, where police arrested her Aug. 1, according to Robertson. Arnold also is wanted in Roane County in West Virginia on 16 charges of animal cruelty, the prosecutor stated.
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| Kathy Arnold has failed to appear for three court appearances and had a fourth postponed due to mental illness. Her no-show for Wednesday's trial caused Judge A. Lee McGratty to order her arrest. She will be held in Augusta County Jail until her trial if apprehended by authorities. | | |
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